Service Desk Lead

The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) provides support to state agencies, the Executive Office of the Governor, the Governor’s coordinating offices, and a variety of independent agencies within the Executive Branch.

Striving to provide the highest level of customer service to its internal and external customers, DoIT supports Maryland’s agencies and commissions through its leadership and strategic direction for Information Technology and Telecommunications, establishing a long range, target technology architecture, encouraging cross agency collaboration and advocating best practices for operations and project management.

100 Community Place, Crownsville, MD  21032

To manage the daily operations of the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) ServiceDesk team and ensure the delivery of efficient, high quality technical support and a positive end-user experience. The Service Desk Lead provides daily management of the 24/7/365 Service

Desk operations, which serves as the primary and first point of contact for State of Maryland agencies. The Service Desk Lead acts as a critical link between the Service Desk support team and State of Maryland customer agencies, as well as the general public, working to ensure that

Service Desk services are delivered efficiently, effectively, and in alignment with the Department's overall goals.

The Service Desk Lead’s main responsibility is supporting and leading the Department of Information Technology’s Service Desk operations. The Service Desk Lead is responsible for supervising and mentoring the Service Desk team, including providing technical guidance and

ensuring the team is trained and motivated. This role serves as the primary point of escalation for complex, high priority, or unresolved technical issues, and working with the appropriate DoIT service groups for prompt and efficient resolution. This role encompasses tracking and reporting

Service Desk key performance indicators (KPIs) like resolution time, ticket volume, call and interaction metrics, and customer satisfaction to identify trends and areas for continuous improvement in service delivery. This role is critical to ensuring the delivery of high quality,

efficient, and consistent technical support while also acting as a central point for incident management and continuous service improvement.

Job Duties:

● Service Desk Operations

○ Manage the day to day operations of a team of Service Desk technicians, including shift scheduling, workload management, and performance monitoring to ensure a 24/7/365 operational capability.

○ Serve as the primary point of escalation for complex, high priority, and critical incidents, ensuring timely investigation, resolution, and communication.

○ Monitor and lead the Service Desk operations to ensure compliance with established Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs).

○ Ensure incident and service requests are logged, tracked, and updated accurately and in a timely manner, in the Department’s ticketing system of record and any other relevant and approved platforms.

○ Ensure tickets are assigned appropriately to the team and self, and that all work is completed per established policies and procedures.

○ Monitor relevant internal chat communication spaces as well as our internal/external email queues for ticket handling, information, communication and to assist with the delivery of the highest quality, efficient, and consistent technical support for our customers 24/7/365.

○ Work with the DoIT Service Desk Assistant Director and Service Desk operations counterparts to update the IVR as needed during peaks of high call volume and widespread issues with high impact and high urgency.

● Customer Service

○ Customer service is a critical function of this role and as such we have established SLO/SLAs to align with reasonable customer expectations. This

position should work assigned tickets so as to meet established SLO/SLA’s and meet/exceed customer expectations. Ticket management includes entering appropriate notations in the ticket relative to issues identified and actions taken.

Document all work in ServiceNow per the DoIT Ticket Handling Etiquette guidelines and apprise the customer of progress made towards ticket resolution.

Always demonstrate courteous and professional behavior and provide excellent customer service at all times. Serve as a point of contact for escalation support requests to network, infrastructure, and vendor support teams for maintenance of network equipment, including switches, firewalls, routers, copiers, and other network related equipment.

● Technical Projects

○ Work assigned technical projects and provide timely updates on project statuses. Serve as project lead or technical expert in one or more End User Support areas.

Maintains appropriate level of documentation for project related work. Work on technical projects as assigned. Maintains appropriate level of documentation for project related work. Reports project related issues, milestones, and completion of deliverables to End User Support leads/managers and peers. Perform security audit related tasks as requested and notify IT security personnel immediately of suspected breaches of security and/or intrusion detection.

● IT Asset & Inventory Support

○ Assist in the completion and capture of physical inventory for DoIT supported sites and support the process for capturing moves, adds, and changes so as to reconcile with the asset database and ensure inventory is maintained accurately in accordance with DoIT asset policies. Maintenance of up-to-date inventory of all Service Desk staff. 

● Queue & Workload Management

○ Document all work in ServiceNow related to the installation, deployment, and maintenance of hardware and software for end users. Create user accounts and management of account privileges. Use the ServiceNow system to create and update tickets for every user interaction before starting work on any project. Work on assigned tickets to meet any established SLO/SLAs. Maintenance of records for all support request tickets for both onsite visits and telephone support, as well as day to day end user support.

● Team Development and Leading

○ Provide direct leadership, mentorship, and technical guidance to the Service Desk team.

○ Provide constructive feedback, and identify training and development opportunities for team members.

○ Train and mentor staff on best practices for call handling, incident documentation, and customer service.

○ Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and exceptional customer service within the team.

● Process and Policy Development

○ Contribute to the ongoing process improvement of the Service Desk, identifying and implementing efficiencies in ticket handling, communication, and resolution.

○ Maintain and manage the Service Desk Knowledge Base (KB), ensuring that information is up to date and used effectively by the team for troubleshooting and problem resolution.

○ Develop and implement standard operating procedures for handling various types of requests and incidents to ensure consistency and quality.

● IT Collaboration

○ Collaborate and consult with DoIT service groups as needed to facilitate the timely resolution of complex technical issues.

○ Communicate technical concepts and updates effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including agency staff and management.

○ Research solutions and workarounds by partnering with DoIT technical teams and peers.

○ Work closely with IT teams, customers, and vendors to gather IT asset inventory information.

Education: Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Two years of experience providing client-side computer hardware and software assistance to supported end users.  This includes providing technical guidance to users and diagnosing and resolving issues, coordinating configurations and installations, installing system software and hardware and general troubleshooting of PC hardware and software.

Notes:

1. A Vocational Certificate, a Microsoft Certified Product Specialist certification, or an equivalent certification and one additional year of experience providing client-side computer hardware and software assistance for supported end users may be substituted for the required education.

2. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in Computer User classifications Management specialty codes in the Information Technology field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience and education.

Employees in this classification may be assigned duties which require the operation of a motor vehicle. 

Employees assigned such duties will be required to possess a motor vehicle operator’s license in the State of Maryland.

1. Applicants for this classification may handle sensitive data. This will require a full scope background investigation prior to appointment.  A criminal conviction may be grounds for rejection of the applicant.

2. Employees may occasionally be required to travel to field locations and must have access to an automobile in the event a state vehicle cannot be provided. Standard mileage allowance will be paid for use of a privately owned vehicle.

The assessment may consist of a rating of your education, training, and experience related to the requirements of the position. It is important that you provide complete and accurate information on your application. Please report all experience and education that is related to this position.

***This is a contractual position, with limited benefits***

Benefits

Contractual employees who work for an agency and have a current employment contract of 30 or more hours a week (or on average 130 hours per month) will be eligible for subsidized health benefits coverage for themselves and their dependents.   View rates on the Department of Budget & Management website, State Employees, Health Benefits, Contractual/Variable rates.

Leave

Paid leave will accrue at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. 

Online applications are highly recommended. However, if you are unable to apply online, the paper application and supplemental questionnaire may be submitted to: Department of Budget and Management, Recruitment and Examination Division, 301 W. Preston St., Baltimore, MD 21201. Paper application materials must be received in our office by the closing date for the recruitment. No postmarks will be accepted.

For questions regarding this recruitment, please contact the DBM Recruitment and Examination Division at Application.Help@maryland.gov or 410-767-4850, MD TTY Relay Service 1-800-735-2258.

We thank our Veterans for their service to our country.

People with disabilities and bilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.

As an equal opportunity employer, Maryland is committed to recruitment, retaining and promoting employees who are reflective of the State's diversity.